Four-star ’24 edge hopes to honor Dae-Dae

AUBURN | For Qua Birdsong, the opportunity to play at Auburn is about family and honoring his cousin.

Birdsong, a 4-star edge in the 2024 class, attended the Tigers’ Big Cat recruiting event Saturday.

“An Auburn offer would mean a lot to me because I had a cousin, Ladarious Phillips who played here. He died so that would really mean something to me if I could play here and continue what he started. That would mean a lot to me,” said Birdsong.

Phillips, a former AU fullback who went by the nickname Dae-Dae, and former AU offensive lineman Ed Christian were both killed in a tragic shooting in June of 2012.

Birdsong, 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, has offers from Notre Dame, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Coastal Carolina, South Alabama.

He’s being actively recruited by a number of other schools including Auburn, Oho State, Clemson, Georgia, Florida State and Cincinnati. He lists the Buckeyes and Bearcats as his current top two.

In addition to Big Cat, Birdsong has visited Auburn two other times including last year’s Iron Bowl.

"This is a place I definitely want to come back to and I’ll keep visiting. I believe Auburn is going to move up in my recruitment now,” he said.

He hopes to return for the Penn State game Sept. 17.

Birdsong had a big sophomore season with 73 tackles, 25 tackles-for-loss and 10.5 sacks.